Tax Panel: Democrats’ Budget Needs to Cut More Tax Breaks

A congressional tax report found that President Barack Obama’s strategy for raising taxes won’t fly on its own since it couldn’t raise the $975 billion called for under the Senate Democratic budget.

The Senate early Saturday passed a Democratic-written budget that would raise $1 trillion over 10 years. The problem is that President Obama’s idea for raising taxes by curbing certain individual breaks — an idea that gained attention last year when GOP nominee Mitt Romney advanced a similar plan — would not produce that much.

How could Mr. Obama’s proposal be modified to raise about $1 trillion? The Joint Committee on Taxation answered that question in response to a query from an unnamed lawmaker who raised the issue. The short answer is that Mr. Obama’s plan would have to be changed to target many more Americans, reaching the middle classes — a group he has repeatedly vowed to protect. Otherwise, Mr. Obama would have to look elsewhere for revenue…

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